Haven't seen Kill Your Darlings yet and hope to (but probably not before the Oscars).

I'd put Philomena, The Book Thief, Frozen, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Butler, Blue Jasmine, The Way Way Back, Much Ado About Nothing, Warm Bodies & Catching Fire in the next 10. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Don Jon didn't completely work but was a respectable first movie.

This was the year I gave up on big junk movies. No more Star Trek, no more comic book movies (except for maybe Iron Man). I saw maybe 6 of the top 10 grossing movies of 2013. I caught Pacific Rim on DVD and just found it silly.

In terms of movies made in Pittsburgh, there wasn't much released in 2013. I would like to have liked Out of the Furnace, and while it had excellent photography and acting (especially Christian Bale who then went on to play a radically different character in American Hustle) the script was, frankly, lame and overly violent.

And, sometimes, I can't watch movies that I know are good movies because they are too violent. So I haven't seen 12 Years a Slave as I know it is a very violent movie (as was, at times, Mandela). I will Netflix 12 Years when I can so I can put it on pause or skip ahead. I thought Steve McQueen's Shame was a great movie, but it was so hard to watch (and it was "only" about sex, not about violence and human ownership). I expect the Oscars will be a director/movie split between Gravity and 12 Years, but I'm still not 100% sure how it will split.

About Me

Born in Vermont, raised in Massachusetts, after high school in 1975 moved to Pittsburgh for college. Met many people but, in particular Jim Mann and we got married in 1977. Had a daughter in Ohio in 1980, moved back to Massachusetts in 1982. Worked for Stratus Computer from 1983-1993 and moved back to Pittsburgh. Various jobs including a three year stint at Ansys. Returned to the University of Pittsburgh to finish my degree in 2000. Since then, odd jobs, volunteer work, self-employment and unemployment in various degrees.